The "I'm a robber" T-shirt at the bank is a TERRIBLE analogy. Now if the T-shirt said "I'm a terrorist" written in English and he was at the airport, then that would be analagous to the "I'm a robber" shirt at the bank. But this T-shirt said "We will not be silent"....I fly all the time, and the passengers who complained were being idiotic. Seriously, I'm all for security, and I'm not even approaching this argument from an American Values perspective. I'm talking about the straight up idiot perspective. People being stupidly afraid of T-Shirts, can be stupidly afraid of arabs, perisians, africans, ghetto looking people....These aren't the people that airline companies and airports are supposed to placate. And people act like idiots all the time...and when the airport starts giving into them, everyone is dumber for it.
Well, in another thread people have stated that a Japanese PM visiting a war shrine is deeply offensive and should not be done because it reminds people of the pain of the past. What if this t-shirt is deeply offensive and reminds them of the terrorist threat? Is there not a parallel there we need to think about?
This shirt doesn't have anything to do with terrorism. It's a t-shirt talking about the war in Iraq and also Muslim discrimination. If the t-shirt reminds people of terrorist threat, then the problem is a prejudice against the Arab/Muslim world. This stuff about being offensive is a problem. Someone could pass gas at a football game and I might find that offensive, but that person has the right to be there. I have no right to kick him out. The point is, if you find something offensive, that is the end of it. Nothing should be done after that. A situation that goes from offensive to something else, is where we should step in. No one cares if you are offended. You deal with it. Think about it. You walk up to this guy and say, I find this t-shirt to be offensive. He'll say, I find that the US has invaded Iraq without a just cause, to be offensive. The US has killed my people. What has my t-shirt done?
This is like that incident where Muslim speaking east Asians were kicked off the plane after boarding. The paranoia we have is a little too high for me....
I retract the name calling. It was late and I just got back from the bar. Suffice to say the rest of my comment still stands.
What about people with a Arabic Tattoo? Since it is popular now to have Foreign lettering on ya body . . I wonder what will happen to those people? Rocket River
huh?? I guess u ment Arabic but I dunno if theres any Arabic speakers in that part of the world....Also I wasnt aware of this particular incident...Was this the one in Europe on a flight to somewhere in England??
^Yeah, my mistake. I realize Muslims speak more than just Arabic. It was the incident on the flight to England.
Is it paranoia? Yes, but not limited to that. In extreme harsh environment like that, where paranoia will be taken seriously, all the worst dark side of human beings will be set free. We are always our own worst enemies. In Nazi Germany, Germans started with paranoia that some Jews were meant harm to that country and people, and then it extended to all Jews, and some people you don't like, you will just report all of them. In Soviet Union, when Stalin started to "clean up" the government and military, people reported each other to set own name clean. In Cultural Revolution, people reported someone they found suspicious, then someone they don't like, or someone just randomly to meet the quota, and on the end, their own friends, family, and loved ones, just to show that they were faithful to the party. In the Rape of Nanking, average Japanese soldiers killed and raped Chinese people indistinguishly in that hell-like city. Without restriction, people will do terrible things. First, they need some sort of excuse, but once they are comfortable with that, they will do that for fun. Evil in every single one of us is anxious to jump out, if there is an environment. Bush generated fear and distrust among Americans. That is the best excuse for someone to start paranoia. If you don't like them, when you see Arabic on someone's T-shirt or someone's talking in Arabic, why not just report them, because hey, I won't get sued. Remember? 9/11 changed everything. If you are a violent person, have problems with certain group of people, if you see them line up in front of toilette and talking in Arabic, why not just attack them. Again, we are in the "War on Terror", so I won't be in any trouble. It's not just paranoia, but more of prejuice and hatred. What will be next? What if there is a group of terrorists consists of Chinese speaking, Koren speaking, Japanese speaking, French speaking, and other language speaking members? Any writing on your clothes and luggage will raise alert from "watchful citizens"? I guess most Americans never experienced the Nazi Germany, Soviet, or Cultural Revolution; therefore, some of them don't seemd to mind to taste it.
In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up. - Pastor Martin Niemoller
Hmm, most people here are more concerned about the implication of the Arabic language on his T-shirt but I am only thinking about the meaning of the English statement "We will not be silent." Why are we not on the same wavelength?
wnes, can you talk a little more about being on the same wave-length? I'm curious as to what you meant by that? I have the feeling you're onto something.
Well, I went through the entire thread a couple of times and observed that the majority of the posters seem to think this is more of case of blatant racial discrimination mingled with suppression of free speech. I tend to think it's more of the latter. If an anti-war Caucasian dude wore the exact same T-shirt in the same situation but was not asked to remove or cover the shirt, then we have a case of clear-cut racial/ethnic discrimination here. My guess is it's quite unlikely the Caucasian guy won't be bothered. A slightly different but still cogent scenario to examine is when you have Caucasian or Arab male wearing a T-shirt that carries the same political message but without any foreign, especially Arabic, characters. That would be a good case study for Dateline or 60 Minutes, wouldn't it? My guess is it's still likely the guy would be asked to change his outfit. Not long ago here in D&D someone posted a report that in a British airport two Arab young men were forced off an airplane simply because, well, they "looked like" Arab terrorists, and the passengers would go nuts if the captain didn't kick these two guys off the fight. To me, that was more seriously outrageous. Unlike the T-shirt guy in this case, the two young men didn't do anything to invite a row. If it wasn't a racial/ethnic profiling and viciously paranoid discrimination, then I don't know what is. I read your posts and I agree with you wholeheartedly in principle. Unfortunately, that's not how the country and world operate, especially post 9/11. Personally, I think we can afford to put our political agenda aside when we get onto airplane, but we can't afford to have another tragic loss of human lives due to unnecessary uproar in the air. How about we just giving a little more consideration to the welfare of flight crew than to our desire to express controversial political views while we are under care of their services? Why can't we wait for a few more hours before we set out to wage political campaigns?
The article said that they singled him out for the Arabic words on the T-shirt. I do wonder how airport officials would react if it was only the English phrase on the T-shirt worn by an Arab. What isn't reported are the occurances when the other T-shirts with the same phrase, in different languages, are being worn during flights and how they're handled. It would help your point if airport officials had pointed out that they make everyone change shirts with that message.... There is a violently rebellious and symbolic undertone in the T-shirt's phrase, but you have to consider that American culture has given a premium on free speech far above others. Symbols have several different meanings and interpretations. Americans would most likely reference the phrase to its defiant yet non-violent history in free speech. Furthermore, I don't think it's likely a terror group would make a bomber wear the shirt to carry out his eventual mission. A lone wolf or someone unstable could try force that message you're alluding to, but it wouldn't make sense to raise suspicion.
Look, the guy knew what he was doing when he wore the T-shirt, if it was simply in English, I doubt he would have had any problems. It is simply the sign of the times....he should where that shirt in the Middle East...that is where they need to see it. DD
Whats worse an Arab with a free speach T-shirt or a security officer who says we don't understand constitutional rights. I feel the latter is more scary and should have raised more concern.
That is my biggest concern as well. Agents, such as yourself, carry a lot of power over citizens because of the badge they wear and the license they have that says they can carry a weapon. It's the same for anyone with a gun. They should be held to higher standards because of this. Airport officials have plenty of experience with this type of situation. This time it was handled poorly. Hopefully, we'll all learn from it and move on. It's not really that big of a deal, but other people should have the right to free speech in the future, even on airplanes.
The vilification of the Arab, it's deeply embedded in American pop culture (as is/was the case with Russians, the Japanese and others): http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14836.htm
